In The News

The National Commission on Product Safety urges President Nixon and Congress to establish a permanent watchdog agency with broad investigative standard-setting and enforcement powers to protect the public against unreasonable hazards. “The most dangerous years are below age 5,” the commission reports. “Approximately 7,000 children under 15 die each year in home accidents - a death toll higher than that of cancer and heart disease combined,” it said. “More than 2 million children every year are injured while using bicycles or playground equipment.” Also, the report said, falls in the home kill about 12,000 a year and injure 6.9 million from a variety of causes.

President Nixon signs legislation lowering the voting age next year to 18, despite misgivings about its constitutionality. He directed Atty Gen John N. Mitchell, to help speed a court test to clear up “confusion and uncertainty” surrounding the constitutional issue. The President said 18-year-old should be given the vote by constitutional amendment. He urged Congress to pass an amendment now “because the likelihood that that the 18-year-old vote provision of this law will not survive its court test.”

The Senate votes to repeal the 1961 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the original legal underpinning for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Forty-four die in world cup celebrations in Rio - where Brazil won over Italy. Most of the cases concerned burns by fireworks, falls, heart attacks and gunshots along with a large number of traffic accidents.

The last of 31,000 American troops in Cambodia begin their pullback to Vietnam. President Nixon has ordered a Tuesday pullout of all troops in the area.

Mercury astronaut L. Gordon Cooper - one of America’s first, says he is resigning from the space program on July 31, “to become a Washington business executive.”

Fascinating facts – June 22, 1970

Population expert Paul Ehrlich, writing in the current issue of McCall’s magazine, says the federal government should pay women each year between the ages of 15 and 28 in which she does not bear children as a means of reversing the U.S population boom and reducing environmental pollution. He also warned mothers who have more than two children that “they are unknowingly contributing to the early death of those children.” “We, along with the citizens of other overdeveloped countries are engaged in a helter-skelter race to destroy the capacity of the Earth to support human life.”

In a Gallup Poll - a majority of adults - 56% believe we made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam. In the previous survey in April, the percent was 51%. Last September - it was at 58%. In August, one year after the bay of Tonkin incident - 24% of all persons interviewed said they believed it a mistake to have become involved in the war. The percentage climbed to 35% in 1966, 46% in 1967, to 58% last September.

Memorial dedicated to JFK - In Dallas, A concrete memorial “to the joy of one man’s life” is dedicated to John F. Kennedy 200 yards from the spot where he was assassinated. An estimated 250 persons watched the dedication of the three-story memorial. No Kennedy family members were in attendance.

Celebrity/Entertainment/Movie news – June 22, 1970

Clint Eastwood will be everywhere - Two studios - MGM and Universal, open two of his films - “Kelly’s Heroes” and “Two Mules for Sister Sara” on the same day.

Dennis Hopper sues actor Peter Fonda and his Pando Co. The suit is for an accounting and to establish a third interest in the film “Easy Rider.” Under an agreement originally made in 1968 and amended twice later, the suite said it was stipulated that Hopper would receive a third of the profit from the film.

William Dyer (32), a Negro cab driver in Columbus, writes to 20th Century-Fox to protest the casting of white actors to play members of the 761st Tank Battalion in “Patton.” Dyer says the 761st was the first Negro tank battalion in Europe. “But in the movie, the men are white. I admire the story and the way it portrayed Patton, But it mentions this unit, says they marched over 100 miles to fight and win a major battle, then lets the world believe it was white men.”

Television news – June 22, 1970

Cartoon producers Hanna-Barbera are making another go at a prime-time cartoon series. This summer, look for “Where’s Huddles?” It gets a 10-week tryout, replacing “Hee Haw” on CBS-TV. Hanna-Barbera haven’t had a successful prime-time cartoon series since “The Flintstones, which ran for six years on ABC. Says Joe Barbera - “I thought we had it with the Jetsons. We tested it six times in one of those testing rooms where the audience is hooked up with wires to record every reaction - and all six times, the results were sensational. ABC put it on the air - and nothing. Of the new cartoon series “Where’s Huddles? - Barbera says - “With the Flintstones, we tried a lot of ideas before we made them cavemen and put them in those skins. Here we tried to find a formula close to sports and we think we have it with couple of families of pro football players. Ed Huddles is the quarterback of a team called the Rhinos. Bubba McCoy, who lives next door, is a bumbling center. On the other side of Huddles, lives a character named Pertwee who hates football, calls these guys savages and tries to get them out of the neighborhood. Paul Lynde does Pertwee’s voice.